


When The Book Opens

by TrashFan



Series: TrashFan's Open Book universe [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Bi Mike Wheeler, Dustin is ripped, Gay Will Byers, Getting Together, M/M, Slurs, and a little homophobic, but it was the 80's, byler, period accurate homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-02 22:18:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12735420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrashFan/pseuds/TrashFan
Summary: When Will's sketchbook falls open one day, a ripple effect is sent through the party. They may not realize it, but they all play a part in pushing two of their members together.





	1. Dustin

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warning for homophobia and slurs

No one in the entirety of Hawkins School District could have guessed that Dustin Henderson would be one of those kids that shot up, shot out, and bulked up in the transition from middle school to high school. But in the two years he'd been occasionally hanging out with Steve Harrington, he'd started working out more and more. Other than as a bonding experience with Steve (and occasionally as a way to impress girls), Dustin hadn't really seen any benefits of his strength. That was until today.

The curly-haired freshman slammed Troy against the wall of lockers, the sound echoing off the walls of the showers and changing area. Despite being several inches shorter than him now, Troy still had his arrogant air of superiority, which he continued to cling on to as he snarled up at Dustin.

“Go ahead, beat me up. That won't change things. By this time tomorrow your precious little Zombie Boy will be a dead man walking.”

“Shut up. No he won't,” Dustin pushed his forearm a little harder across Troy's collarbone, effectively pinning him in place.

“Oh, you're going to stop me then? Hey Wheeler, do you think I can get the name Fairy Boy to stick by the end of the week? I know we love Zombie Boy, but I feel like this is a good time for a change. Don't you?”

“You shut your mouth, you hear me?” Dustin growled. “I swear to god, if –”

“Dustin, stop,” Mike chimed in, not even pausing as he paced back and forth behind his friend's back. “What do you want Troy?”

“Ha, you think I want something from you?”

“Seriously. What do we have to do to make this go away?” Mike pleaded.

A slimy smile spread across his face. “Nothing. God, this is going to be so good. I can just imagine the little fag's face when he realizes that everyone knows.”

Dustin let his arm slide upwards just enough to be uncomfortably close to pressing on Troy's throat. “Why are you like this? Seriously? What's your malfunction?”

“My malfunction? _My_ malfunction? Are you fucking serious right now?”

“Oh that's it, Mike help me –”

“Dustin stop!” he broke out, finally pausing in his path. “The rest of the football team will be in here for practice in about five minutes, and when that happens it'll be over. We have to figure this out _now_.”

“I think beating his stupid face in would be a good place to start.”

“All that'll do is get you suspended on top of everything else.”

“Yeah,” Troy mocked. “You can throw me into the quarry, still won't shut me up.”

Mike's eyes lit up. “Did you hear that man? The quarry?”

Dustin's brow furrowed. “What? You can't be serious man, we could never do that.”

Mike took a few, slow steps towards the two boys shoved up against the wall. “We couldn't,” he said, speaking directly to Troy, “but we know someone who could. Do you remember our friend from a few years ago? The one that stopped me from falling into the water? The one that made you piss yourself in front of everyone?”

Troy's nostrils flared.

“She could do all kinds of stuff to you without getting in trouble. Stuff no one would be able to trace back to her.”

“You wouldn't. None of you actually have the stones to throw a real punch, much less do serious damage to someone.”

Mike shrugged. “Maybe not. But she could do other stuff. Hey Dus, do you think El could pull the pants pissing stunt while Troy's on the field at the homecoming game?”

Dustin grinned as he realized what his friend was getting at. He let go of Troy and took a step back. “Hmm, I don't know. It seems kinda cheap to pull the same stunt twice. Maybe she could just have him puke on his date at the dance.”

“Ooh, good one. There are so many good options. Unless, of course,” Mike inched closer to Troy, whose face had gone pale. “this piece of shit manages to keep his mouth shut. I think if we don't hear any more of this conversation...we won't see any effects of this conversation. Don't you agree?”

Troy swallowed roughly. “Freaks,” he spat, but it was clear he knew what the deal was.

The party members gathered their backpacks and school things, assuring the entering football players that they were just finishing up after gym class.

 

 

~~~

 

 

Dustin almost could've pretended to forget the incident by the time Mike and him were alone again. Gym was their last class of the day, and after the stand-off with Troy they had immediately met up with the others to bike down to the lake and see if they could throw any rocks across. That had been several hours ago now, and one by one the party members had turned to go home, citing homework or cleaning or just plain laziness. And so without really planning it, Dustin and Mike found themselves siting alone at the edge of the water, skipping stones in silence. They didn't have to speak to know what the other one was thinking about. It went on like that for what seemed like an hour until Dustin finally decided to break the silence.

“How long?”

Mike cocked his head to the side but didn't look up at his friend. “How long what?”

“How long have you two, uh, shit. You know, been together?”

The darker haired boy choked on air. “What? No. No, we're not. Never. No.”

“Then why did you have his drawings?”

“I wasn't supposed to. My science notebook is the same as Will's art notebook. I think they got switched after lunch.”

“Oh. So you didn't...?”

Mike shook his head. “No, I didn't know. He never told me. When Troy knocked my stuff out of my hand and that damn book landed open, that was my first time seeing this stuff too.”

Dustin shook his head. He had been freaking out about all this Will stuff, but it couldn't be anything compared to what Mike was going through. “How're you doing with all this?”

“I have no idea. I don't know what to think, you know?”

“Maybe we're misinterpreting things?”

Mike snorted and tried to skip a stone across the lake. “He had a sketch of me leaning in to kiss him. I think that's pretty clear.”

“Good point. Aren't you freaked out that he wants to...you know... with _you_?”

“Yeah I guess. I think it's the same way Max probably felt knowing you liked her or how I felt after El broke up with me.”

“You don't see how it's different? How _he's_ different?”

Mike just shrugged.

“Dude, he's queer now. Do you know what that means for him if people find out? What it means for us if people find out?”

“Yeah man, I get it. It would suck. I honestly thought Will would never let anyone know.”

Now it was Dustin's turn to choke on his breath. “What? I thought you said he never told you?”

“He didn't. But I just kinda figured.”

“You 'just figured' your best friend was a fag?”

Mike flinched. “Don't call him that. And yeah I guess I did. When his dad was still around he'd yell at Will and Jonathan all the time, tell them they needed to stop being such 'fucking fairies.' Johnathan would just brush it off, but it really got to Will. I don't know, the way he reacts to things and doesn't talk about girls, it always just made sense to me.”

“This is crazy. This is fucking crazy.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes! Even talking about it feels wrong to me.”

“Does it change anything?”

“What?” Dustin asked.

“Does it change how you feel about Will? You just spent a whole afternoon hanging out with him, and you sat here with me for a while even though you thought I was dating him. Does it really make a difference in your friendship with him?”

“I don't know, maybe.”

“What does it change?”

Dustin threw his hands up. “I don't know Mike! He'll never talk to me about dating or girls. We'll never get to talk about who we like together.”

“Did you ever do that with Will before?”

There was a pause. “How are you so cool about this?”

“I don't know, because it's Byers. And honestly, I think in the future being gay won't be such a big deal.”

Dustin snorted. “Yeah, sure. And we'll elect an orange as president.”

“I'm being serious. Are you really gonna freak out at him about this?”

He sighed and rubbed at his temples. “No, I guess not, he's still Byers. I just don't know. I'm gonna have to think about this, figure out what I think of it all.”

Mike nodded. “I guess that's fair.”

“I need to get home and feed Tews. You want me to bike you back to your house?”

“No, I got it.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow then.” Dustin pushed himself to his feet, helped his friend up, and began walking the path to his bike before he paused and turned around. “Hey Mike?”

“Yeah?”

“When you give Will back his sketch book, can you not tell him what I said?”

Mike bit his lip and nodded. “Yeah, I won't mention it.”

 


	2. Max

Max Mayfield had lived in Hawkins for over two years and was still working to establish herself. Everyone knew her name, she'd learned which teachers she could curse in front of, and she always had a place to sit at lunch, but she wanted more. She was tired of being _just_ Lucas's girlfriend. More than anything she wanted to be a full-fledged member of the party, like Eleven was. Sure, everyone said she was in, but it felt different. Max could understand it; she hadn't been there during Will's disappearance and stuff like that forges bonds. But wanted to be a friend, not a friend's girlfriend.

She wasn't expecting a chance to work on that problem when she left her house an hour and a half before she needed to. Max was only trying to get away from her stepdad's bout of Monday morning screaming. Usually she could sleep through it, but on the days where he was too loud to ignore, she skated around the neighborhood until it was time to head to the school. She'd only been out for a few minutes when she recognized the lanky, bean-pole form of one of her friends. Max picked up speed until she was close enough to confirm; Will Byers. She suppressed a grin as she made her way towards where he was walking his bike around the curve of a cul-de-sac. Max got along with all of the party members in different ways, but she'd always felt a certain ease with Will that she didn't have with the others. It'd always felt like he treated her as a person, not as a _girl_. He was the only one of the boys who hadn't looked at her weird a year ago when she came back from her summer in California with brand-new hips and breasts.

“Hey Will!” she called out when she was close enough.

He turned around and gave a weak smile. Shit, were his eyes rimmed in red? Max stopped when she was next to him and kicked her board up into her hands.

“Hey, what're you doing out so early? Are you okay?”

“I'm fine, I just wanted some fresh air.”

“You're a terrible liar.”

Will exhaled. “So I've been told.”

“So where are you headed?” Max asked as the two began walking slowly down the sidewalk.

“Mike's house.”

“Isn't it that way?” she pointed in the opposite direction they were facing.

“Yeah, it is.”

“So should we –”

“No,” he interrupted. “I'm not ready yet.”

Max looked over at Will, whose eyes were trained on the ground in front of him. “Is everything okay with you two?”

“Kind of. I don't know, not really.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” he muttered.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don't know.”

Max picked at the skin around her thumb nail. This was exactly her problem; she wanted so badly to break through into a genuine friendship. “I know I can be loud, but I'm actually a really good listener.”

“It's complicated. I wouldn't be able to tell you everything because it involves, uh, secrets. It'd just be confusing and frustrating.”

“Try me.”

“Um, okay. I think Mike has my...um, I guess you could call it a journal.”

“Oh. Why would he take from you?”

“He didn't, I think it got mixed up with one of his notebooks on Friday.”

“Is that why you were going to his house?”

Will sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. I wanted to get it back.”

Max furrowed her brow. “So why don't you?”

“Because what if he opened it? What if he saw what was in it? There's so much in there he doesn't know about.”

“Do you really think Mike would go reading through your stuff?”

Will shrugged. “Maybe, if he thought it was his science book. I wouldn't blame him.”

“Why didn't you try to get back during D&D?”

“I skipped it this weekend. I couldn't...I wasn't ready to see him.”

“Is the stuff in your journal really that bad?”

Will paused before nodding.

Max bit her lip. “Well, I can't give you specific advice seeing as I don't know what you wrote. But you're a good guy, and Mike really cares about you. I think if he could stick it out when you had a literal monster inside of you, he'll be okay with whatever else is going on.”

“I don't know about that 'good guy' stuff, but thanks.”

“Hey now, it's true. You should see the way he smiles whenever you show up. I think it'll be fine. Besides, maybe he didn't even read it.”

Will smiled slightly. “Maybe.”

The two walked in silence for several minutes before Max spoke again.

“So...are we going to his house now?”

“No. I can't deal with that right now,” he sniffed and shook his head. “I think I'm just going to keep walking until school.”

Max nodded. “Mind if I stay with you? I can't remember the last time we hung out just the two of us.”

Will broke out into a grin. “Yeah, that sounds nice.”

An hour later when it was finally time for the two to head to their different first period classes, Max felt proud of herself. She might not've known what exactly was going on with Byers, but she felt closer to him and she genuinely hoped that whatever was wrong worked out as well as it possibly could. The more time she spent around Will, the more she liked him. When the friends got to the split in the hallway where they had to part, Max pulled him in for a quick hug.

“Mike really cares about you. It'll all be okay, trust me,” she whispered.

For the thousandth time that weekend, Will had to hold back tears.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first fic in the the Stranger Things fandom, and you guys have offered me so much amazing support! Comments really encourage me to write, so feel free to keep it up


	3. Eleven

“So do you understand everything?”

El sighed and scanned the worksheet. “Yes, your corrections make sense.”

“Good. You're really getting better at this, you know that right?” Mike asked.

“Explain that to the four teachers trying to flunk me.”

“You're picking things up really fast, you just have a lot of ground to make up.”

El leaned back into the beanbag on the basement floor of the Wheeler house as she studied a lock of her now shoulder-length curls.

“Seriously,” he said, “you're doing really well.”

“Thank you,” she shrugged.

In all honesty, if she didn't have these weekly homework help sessions in the basement, she would have been pulled out of her first year in public school a long time ago. Mike had more to do with her technically passing grades than she did. Besides, it was nice for the both of them to have this regular reprise from the busyness of the world. Eleven loved her group of friends, but siting in the basement with Mike reminded her of the days at the very beginning when these four walls were her secret home. Sometimes they took a step back from all the uncertainty of the foreign high school life that they hadn't quite grown into yet, and sometimes they used this time as a chance to analyze it. Which reminded her...

“Hey Mike?”

“Yeah?”

“What is wrong?”

He looked at her. “Uh, nothing? What do you mean?”

“Something is wrong with you lately. What is it?”

“Be more direct, Eleven,” he chuckled nervously.

“Seriously. You've been sad, and you don't talk as much. You haven't been the one to start a plan to hang out in fifteen days.”

“Jesus, you really pay attention.”

Eleven shrugged her shoulders. “I have to. That is how I learn how things work here.”

Mike sighed and sat back. “Nothing's wrong, I'm good.”

“Mike.”

“What?”

“How many times have we said it? _Friends don't lie_.”

The boy looked down at his tapping feet and scratched his jaw. “You know, sometimes your attentiveness is just a pain in the ass.”

“I have been told.”

He chuckled. “It's not a big deal. Nothing's actually wrong wrong. It's just...”

“It's Will?”

Mike's head snapped up to look at her. “What?”

“Will has been acting even stranger than you, and you both are worse when you're together.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “What don't you pick up on?”

“Biology,” she said, gesturing to the abandoned textbook on the floor.

“Good point.”

“So...?” she prodded.

Mike ran a hand through his hair. “Look, it's complicated. There's been this thing floating between us and he refuses to acknowledge it or be around me even to get his book back, and the longer it goes on the weirder it is. Okay?”

“Um, I don't understand.”

“That's the thing! No one understands!”

“Okay, so go back and explain.”

But it seemed as though a flood gate had opened. Mike had never been good at bottling up feelings with her, and El giving him an outlet seemed to be releasing it all at once. “It's so damn confusing and complex and taboo that you can't talk to anyone about it, you know? Will and I have been best friends since we were five and we still can't figure out how to even bring it up. And he's embarrassed and freaking out and honestly so am I, but him avoiding me is only making it worse, you know?”

“Sorry, I don't actually know what–”

“And Dustin's not making things any better,” Mike continued, throwing his hands up. “Always asking me questions and ranting about his thoughts. And he's trying, he really is. But it's not helpful that I'm constantly reminded of what society thinks of all this, the gross realities.”

“Okay, slow down please. I don't understand what Dustin has to do with Will,” El cut in.

Mike bit his lip and shook his head. “Nothing. He shouldn't have anything to do with all this. But he does, everyone does.”

Eleven sighed and gave up on trying to actually understand what he was saying. “I'm sorry,” she offered.

“Will's so scared. He thinks he's alone. But if we could just talk, if I just had the courage...” he blinked and pointed his eyes towards the ceiling, trying desperately to hold it together.

El pursed her lips before scooting closer to her friend. No one had known about this while he was her boyfriend, and if they did, people would think it was even weirder that it continued after the breakup. But whenever Mike was upset, El wrapped her hands around his shoulders, pulled him into her until her head was resting on top of his, and slowly rubbed the top of his neck. It was an odd role reversal, seeing as he was a good six inches taller than her, but it always worked to calm him down. She opened her arms up now, and after only a moment of hesitation Mike fell easily into this familiar position. It wasn't until they had been like this for several minutes that El felt the small wet spots on her shirt where Mike's eyes rested. She had absolutely no clue what was going on, but it physically hurt her to see her friend like this. She closed her eyes and started humming to him.

After an immeasurable amount of time, the boy pulled back to look at her.

“Hey El?”

“Mmhmm?”

“It's not just Will. I'm scared too,” he sniffed, “I'm fucking terrified.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took longer, I had to flesh through three versions of how Eleven effected the relationship before I settled on this one. I would love to hear what you guys thought of it, and what you think of the story arc overall. Your comments really push me to keep writing!


	4. Will

Will was trying desperately to come up with small talk. They'd already discussed school, the new campaign Lucas was leading, and the ever-approaching homecoming parties, game, and dance. This was by far the longest he and Mike had been alone together since the notebook switch. They still hadn't traded back, and Will idly wondered if his friend was having trouble in science without his notes. But they hadn't brought it up yet, hadn't asked to switch back, because that meant acknowledging what had happened. And they couldn't do that.

When the boys' silence was just beginning to encroach on the territory of undeniably awkward, The rest of the party finally emerged from the school. Mike let out an audible sigh of relief, which made Will flinch. He understood why his friend didn't want to be around him alone, but it still hurt. Will was about to ask them what had taken them so long when Eleven cut in and spoke first.

“I can't come today. I have to do an extra essay for Hensen's class or he says he'll drop my grade another letter.”

Mike whistled. “Do you want my help? I can skip too.”

“No. I would like to work alone today,” she said. El unlocked her bike from the rack where they had all gathered and shot a pointed look at the others before beginning to walk away.

Dustin coughed and shifted his weight, not looking up from his feet. “Yeah, and I gotta go home. My mom needs help moving furniture around the house.”

“Yeah, and Lucas and I forgot we had a whole date planned for tonight. Reservation at a restaurant and everything.”

“We did?” Lucas asked.

Max glared at him.

“Oh. I mean, yeah. We did.”

Will wanted to melt into the pavement. He was positive that Max had organized all this, and he was going to kill her the next chance he had. It had been a week since their early morning conversation, and she had been gently prodding him to talk to Mike about the “journal” more and more every day. He guessed this was the climax of all that. The rest of their friends took their bikes and skateboard and began to walk away. Will could have sworn he heard Dustin whisper “sorry dude” to Mike as he passed by.

And just like that, the boys were alone again.

“Busy day I guess,” Mike offered.

“Yeah. We don't have to go either, if it's just gonna be the two of us. I'm sure you have a lot of homework to get done,” Will muttered.

“I do, but I think I want to go anyway. If you still want to.”

Will tried to hide his surprise with a cough. “Um, yeah. That'd be nice.”

The friends gave each other tentative smiles before mounting their bikes and kicking off. The ride from Hawkins High to The Palace Arcade was only about ten minutes, but it felt longer than it ever had before. For the first time in memory, the boys biked without speaking except for the occasional “watch out for the rock,” or “curb dip!” Several times Will had to take a hand off the handlebars to dry the sweat on his jeans. When they finally arrived, the two rode around to the back of The Palace to the racks that were vandalized slightly less often. After their bikes were all locked up, they paused. Will knew he should say something. He should apologize and beg for forgiveness and tell his Mike that he understood if he was disgusted with him. Will took a breath shook out his arms, and looked up at his friend.

“I'm sorry El did this,” Mike said, cutting Will off.

“W-what?”

“The whole everybody-pretend-they-can't-come thing. I didn't tell her to do that, I promise.”

“Oh,” Will breathed. “Honestly I thought Max did it.”

“Max?”

“Yeah. We've been hanging out more recently, and she knows that you and I have been,” he shifted. “uh, not hanging out as much.”

“So you told her?” Mike asked.

“What? No! I mean, yes. I mean, I told her that things were weird between us, not that–”

The taller boy chuckled. “Calm down. I was just wondering because Eleven noticed it herself. I swear to god, sometimes I worry that that girl can read minds too.” Mike made his way to the short staircase behind the fire exit and sat down. “We were just hanging out, doing homework and suddenly she's asking why you and I have been...weird.”

Will gave an unsteady smile as he sat down on the same step as Mike, as far away from his friend as he could be. “I'm really impressed with you guys.”

“Why? Impressed with what?”

“How you and El are such good friends even after breaking up. How is that? How does that even work?”

“I don't know, it just does,” Mike shrugged. “I mean, the breakup sucked. But she was talking about how we hardly got to know each other as friends before we started dating, and I realized she was right. El wanted us to be friends before we were boyfriend and girlfriend. And by them time we really knew each other like that, I guess I didn't see her in a romantic way anymore.”

“It wasn't fear?”

“What do you mean?”

Will wrung his hands together in his lap. “It wasn't that you were afraid what would happen to the friendship if you broke up again?”

“Oh.”

“N-nevermind. I was just wondering, because if it were me–”

“No, it's fine.” Mike said. “It's just that I never really thought about it. I guess I figured that if we were that close of friends, we'd be able to work things out if we weren't good as a couple.”

Will nodded. “That makes sense.”

“It's nice to have her. She questions a lot of the stuff we take for granted, you know? She didn't grow up with the same assumptions we did, so she sees stuff differently. Also,” he chuckled. “Eleven is the best thing that's ever happened to my grades. I have to really understand what's going on to teach her. My notes have gotten incredible. I even started–”

“Color-coding them.” Will interrupted.

Mike looked over at him. “How'd you know that?”

Will's face flushed as he returned the look. “I looked at your bio notebook. I wasn't snooping, I swear. I was just having a hard time understanding DNA translation and I had your book. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude or anything.”

“No, no, don't worry. I'm glad someone's been getting some use of my notebook these last two weeks.”

There was a silence as both boys sat there for a minute. Will's mind was reeling. They were so close to talking about it. He wanted to throw up and talk about everything and run away, all at once. God, he wished he had the courage to just take it that one step further. But how could he even start? Everything was so confusing, and he was surprised that Mike was even okay being within twenty feet of him.

“I didn't mean to see it,” Mike muttered.

“What?” Will said, wrenched out of his reverie.

“I didn't mean to see the stuff inside your sketch book. I was just gathering my stuff and then Troy pushed me and then it was open on the floor.”

Will could feel himself turning green. “Troy saw?”

“Yeah. But don't worry! He's never gonna mention it. You should have seen the way Dustin slammed him into the wall. I thought he was going to choke the mouth-breather.”

“Dustin knows?”

Will longed for the “worst case scenarios” he had dreamed up about Mike screaming insults at him. This was so much worse than he had imagined. Three people knew his secret. _Three._ And one of them had already been out to make his life hell. Jesus Christ, it was just a matter of time before all of Hawkins knew that Will Byers was a faggot. He imagined the look on his mom's face when she found out and he felt queasy. He imagined his dad yelling at him, telling him he'd always known his son was a failure. He wouldn't even be able to run away. Some of his friends could pass as eighteen, Dustin could maybe even go for twenty-one, but Will knew that he still looked like he was ten. Maybe he could go up to a state park and live off the land until he was of age. He'd survived in the Upside-Down for a week, how hard would it be to hide in a normal forest?

“Hey man, come back to me. C'mon Will, breathe.” a gentle voice pulled him from his thoughts. Mike had moved next to him on the steps, and his hand was outstretched to rest on Will's shoulder.

He opened his mouth to say something only to find that his whole body was shaking and he was on the verge of hyperventilation. He didn't remember when he got like that.

“Hey, you know how to do this dude. Deep breaths in and out. Slowly, do it with me.” Mike started to inhale and exhale in an exaggerated fashion, but it was what Will needed to pick up on his rhythm. In and out, in and out. He wasn't sure how long them went on like this, but it wasn't until his breathing was almost completely steady that he realized Mike's hand was still on him, rubbing slow, calming circles into the back of his neck.

“Sorry,” he said when he could finally speak again.

“Don't be, you're fine. Did you hear anything I said?”

“Uh, I don't know. Probably not.”

Mike gave his friend a gentle smile. “It's okay. I was just saying that Troy isn't going to tell anyone, Dustin's made sure of that. He actually has El move Troy's shit around right in front of him, just to freak him out. It's actually pretty funny to watch.”

“And Dustin doesn't hate me?”

“No,” he said, but Will didn't miss how Mike's hand stuttered in its movements. “I don't think he could hate you if he tried. He's confused, and he doesn't really get it, but he's trying really hard.”

Will nodded silently.

“It's gonna be okay. Dustin's working on it. He's still been cool hanging out with you, right?”

“Right.”

“See? He'll figure things out. I promise.”

Will swallowed dryly. “Do you hate me, Mike?”

Mike's hand movement on Will's back stopped altogether. “What?”

“Because I understand if you do. I can stop coming by for D&D or I could find a different lunch table. I know messed up, and I'm trying to fix it. Believe me, I'm trying so hard not to be,” Will started scratching at his hand. “like I am. So if you don't wanna be around me, I understand. Because honestly, I hate me too sometimes.”

“ _Will_.”

“Yeah?”

“Will look at me.”

He tore his eyes up from where they were fixed on the ground.

“I don't hate you, and neither should you. You're my best friend, and this doesn't change that. Okay?”

Mike was looking Will right in the eyes, and he knew that his friend wasn't lying. If nearly ten years of friendship had taught him anything, it was that Mike couldn't lie to him if his life depended on it. “Why are you so calm about this?”

“I don't know. I guess there are a lot of things I'm unsure of, a lot of questions I have about all this. Hell, I'm more confused than I have been in a long time. But I do know that you're still Byers. I almost lost you twice. I'd never risk a third time.”

Will felt a lump form in his throat. Never in a million years could he have imagined this reaction. He'd prepared so many responses for things Mike might say to him, but he was at a complete loss of words. “T-thanks,” he managed eventually.

“Don't mention it,” Mike said.

The boys sat there for a little while longer and Will just focused on completely calming down. Things were okay. He wasn't sure how the hell he'd gotten this lucky, but things were okay for right now. Eventually, Mike stood up from the steps and offered his hand out. Will looked at him with a furrowed brow.

“Come on Byers. We've had our touchy-feely time. I wanna play arcade games.”

Will chuckled and took his friend's hand to get up. They spent too much time and way too much money inside playing games, but Will had a better time hanging out than he had in a while. He tried to ignore what Mike's smile did to his stomach whenever he did well in a game. He tried to ignore how his friend's light laughter filled up his chest in a way he couldn't quite put words to. Will tried to ignore the nagging thought, _did Mike's hand really linger on mine when he helped me up?_

He failed at all of this, but it was okay. Will really felt okay.

 


	5. Lucas

If someone had told Lucas that he would be spending his Friday night freezing his ass off in a tightly-packed crowd cheering Troy's name, he'd have said they were crazy. But there he was, doing exactly that and loving every second of it. Like everyone in Hawkins, Lucas had played a bit of soccer and basketball when he was little, but past that he was never really interested in sports. Every time his dad made him come downstairs to watch a game with the family, he would bring a book or some homework, and eventually everyone gave up. That was until Eleven asked what “homecoming” meant and the party saw her eyes light up when they explained it to her.

There was an unspoken rule that no one dare to dampen El's enthusiasm. Usually someone tried to tell her that no, the half-empty asbestos filled mall wasn't actually that interesting, but if she was set on something, they just went with it. The girl had such an infectious curiosity and excitement to her, more often than not everyone had way more fun than they thought they would.

So there he was, grinning like an idiot as he watched Max try to explain the rules to El, who had painted “GO FOOTBALL!”across her face.

“Okay, but who are the guys in white and black?” Eleven asked.

“Those are the referees.”

“What do they do?”

Max smiled over at Lucas as she continued, “They make sure the players are following the rules.”

“Oh. And what does the guy with the giant head do?”

“That's the school mascot. He's not actually a part of the game, he just stands on the sidelines and dances sometimes.”

“Why?”

“To make everyone happy, I guess. He is kinda useless, now that I think about it.”

“Hey now!” Will interrupted. “He's the most important person on that field if you ask me.”

“Shut it,” Max laughed.

El looked like she was about to ask another question, but then the Tigers intercepted the ball and the crowd went berserk. Her eyes went wide for a second, but then Eleven was screaming as well. Dustin shrugged and joined in, and soon the whole party was hooping and hollering, breaking only to laugh. An outsider might've actually mistaken them for football fans. Eventually the excitement died down and they broke off into various conversations about football rules or chemistry or movies, coming back together when something exciting happened again. This seemed to go on forever, and Lucas couldn't help but feel an odd sort of shiny feeling inside his chest. Even before all the insanity with Will's disappearance and the Upside-Down and El, the party never really felt at rest. They always seemed to be running from a bully or trying to make sense of girls or hiding from the attention of a particularly cruel teacher. Despite being the “odd ones out” in so many ways, it seemed as if Eleven and Max had brought a normalcy to his life that he hadn't realized he'd been missing.

Eventually halftime rolled around and Dustin, Will, Eleven, and Max announced they were all going to the bathroom and/or to get snacks. Lucas quickly pecked Max's head as she walked by, helping El evaluate the very important decision of what her first stadium meal should be. This left him and Mike to guard everyone's seats on the oddly sticky bleachers.

The two exchanged some simple small talk before falling into comfortable silence, decompressing from the energy flurry of the last few hours. Lucas was idly surveying his environment when his eyes paused on his friend. Mike was looking off towards the concession stand with a crooked smile that could only really be described as airy. That matched with the softness in his eyes made Lucas's jaw drop. He had seen that look in only one context and he could recognize it anywhere – it was exactly how Mike had looked at Eleven for the first year after she'd come into their lives. He followed Mike's line of sight until he found what he was looking at; Will was helping El clean spilled nacho cheese off her shirt, both with flushed cheeks as Will tried to avoid accidentally touching El's chest.

“Oh my god dude, there's something going on between you two, isn't there?”

Mike's head snapped over to look at his friend. “W-what?”

“C'mon man, nobody looks at 'just a friend' like that.”

“I do.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “No you don't. Talk to me dude. When did you start crushing on Eleven again?”

“What? Oh. But, no. No.”

“You're a terrible liar Michael Wheeler.”

Mike snorted. “So I've been told.”

“I'm not trying to get all mushy-gushy on you, but you've told me about every crush you've ever had since the second grade. You love talking about this stuff. And they're gonna be back soon, so it's now or never Mikey Boy.”

“You know I fucking hate that nickname, right?”

Lucas reached up and ruffled his friend's hair. “And that's why I love using it.”

“I hate you.”

“No you don't. Now shut up and tell me when you started liking Eleven again.”

“So I'm supposed to talk to you while I shut up?”

“Oh my god you know what I mean,” Lucas groaned.

Mike bit the corner of his mouth and sighed. “I don't know. Maybe I always have? But I guess it's been the last few weeks that I've really realized it.”

“Are you gonna go for it?”

“I don't think so. I have no idea how I would even begin. I've never ever talked about my feelings with,” Mike scratched his jaw. “with her. There's so many ways it could ruin everything, and I'm not even sure that I really do like her.”

Lucas cocked his head to the side. “You've never talked about your feelings? You two were together for like a year.”

“What? Oh, yes. I mean, it just sort of happened without us talking about it.”

“Okay? You guys have been together once before, it should be easy to ask again.”

Mike shook his head. “It's not like that. I can't really explain why, but it just isn't. There's way too many ways it could go wrong. I don't think I could handle it if he got hurt.”

“If who got hurt?”

“What?”

“You said 'if he got hurt'. Who's 'he?'” Lucas asked.

Mike's eyes went wide. “No I didn't. I uh, I said 'we.' I couldn't handle it if we got hurt.”

“Oh, gotcha. Listen man, I'm no expert, but you guys were so damn happy before. And that look I just saw you give her? You're head-over-heels, and you owe it to her to just try. I want to see you that happy again.”

“I don't know if I can. It's so much easier to stay friends.”

“True. But it's that classic problem – if you don't go for it, you'll always wonder. I was fucking terrified to ask Max to dance that first time, but I'm so glad I did, you know?”

“How are you and Max doing, anyway?”

Lucas scoffed. “Very subtle subject change dude. Seriously, seamless.”

Mike's cheeks flamed red but he laughed as well. “Shut up, enough about me. Please.”

“Nah, but for real, it's going pretty well. It's so easy to be around her, you know?”

“I know what you mean. Have things gotten easier for her since Billy finally moved out?”

Lucas shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't sure exactly how much of Max's home situation he was allowed to talk about, but he doubted he could go into all the details of why her parents were douches. “I guess in some ways. But I guess he like, protected her some? So it's good that she doesn't have to deal with his shit, but she also has to deal with more of her parents' shit.”

“Oh. That sucks.”

He shrugged. “Yeah. It can be hard to get a chance to see her sometimes. My neighbor is a friend of her stepdad, and if he hears about Max being near my house he loses it. So we used to hang out at the park, but now that it's getting cold it's harder.”

“That's awful. I'm sorry man.”

“It's whatever. Sorry for the word vomit, didn't mean to give you more than you asked for.”

Mike shook his head. “No, I want to hear what's going on with you. We haven't caught up in a while. Tell me about–”

But Lucas never got to hear what Mike wanted to be told about, as the other four friends came loudly shuffling to their seats. Everyone seemed to be holding at least three separate food items.

“What the hell?” Lucas laughed.

“They couldn't decide what to get, so they got everything,” Dustin said, as if it should be obvious.

“Oh of course,” Mike snorted.

They spent the rest of halftime dividing snacks and commenting on the quality of the thousand options they had. It was nice to get back to that light-hearted headspace, but that didn't stop Lucas from noticing the way Mike seemed weirdly charged, and how he blushed as El and Will leaned clear across his lap to feed each other bites of their snow cones. He winked at Mike, who only blushed harder and mouthed _shut up_.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get out! I knew I wanted it to be grossly fluffy, but I wasn't sure quite how. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed. Your comments help shape the way the story goes, so please leave your thoughts!


	6. Mike

Hawkins School Corporation wasn't a poor school system. They could afford new uniforms for their different sports teams and they had the budget to cover up the graffiti constantly cropping up behind the library fire exit, but they were a long way from being a rich district. So when Mike walked into the high school gym for his first ever homecoming dance, his jaw dropped. He'd been expecting a slightly bigger version of the Snow Ball, but it was absolutely insane. The whole floor was covered in a midnight blue fabric which flowed seamlessly into the giant balloon arch at the entrance. It had taken him almost a half an hour to process it all, make his way to the punch table, find his friends, and properly get settled.

The boys might've liked to think they were here for the girls' sake, but in all honesty it was hard for anyone to not be enchanted by the soft twinkle lights lining the walls and ceiling. No one, however, could debate that they were dancing for Dustin's sake. His extended time with Steve Harrington had not only made him ripped, he'd also gotten a lot more coordinated as he made his way out of his awkward transitional phase. Having been the underdog all his life, Dustin's eagerness to show off was understandable, if not exhausting. Mike was worried he looked silly bouncing up and down in his freshly-pressed church suit, but he couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled up every time he made eye contact with one of his friends. He was wiped out as the party bopped along to the fifth fast song in a row, and he was about to call it quits when the music changed and a ballad finally gave him a chance to breathe.

Mike shuffled to the side of the gym and turned around, expecting to see all of his friends behind him. But Max and Lucas were slow dancing front and center, and it looked like El had even roped Will into awkwardly swaying with her, so it was just him and Dustin on the sidelines. Mike got an airplane cup of water and tried not to laugh at the panicked face of William Byers trying to figure out how to dance with a girl a good two inches taller than him.

“You enjoying yourself?” Dustin asked as he leaned against the wall.

“Yeah, I am actually. It's a lot nicer than I thought it'd be. You?”

“About the same. You guys always seem to keep it interesting.”

“Speaking of interest,” Mike said, “Judy Miller has been looking at you all night. Do you think you'll go for it?”

“Isn't she the one that punched a girl during the back to school pep rally?”

“No man, she's the one that got punched. She spilled pop on Sharon Crouch's sweater.”

Dustin smiled. “Maybe I'll talk to her then. I've always hated Sharon.”

“Stands to reason.”

The boys made their way over to the refreshment table and Mike capitalized on the lack of a line to snag one of the double chocolate cookies he'd been eyeing all night. He groaned as a second slow song came on, but then he heard Dustin cough next to him.

“Will looks, uh, handsome tonight.”

Mike froze, the cookie halfway to his face. “Maybe? Yeah I guess, I hadn't noticed.”

“Yes you have.”

He swallowed hard. “I don't know what you mean. I mean, yeah, he's in a suit with nicely brushed hair. We all are.”

Mike felt his heart slamming against his ribs as Dustin fixed his eyes on him. “I see the way you look at him dude. You're incredibly obvious, you should probably work on that if you don't want other people figuring it out.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't–”

“No, let me say this before I lose my nerve. I don't know what to think of all this. I wish I'd never seen that goddamned notebook in the first place. It grosses me the fuck out and I honestly hate even mentioning it” Mike opened his mouth to talk, but Dustin held up a hand. “But I guess I wanna say what you said is true. I've been thinking a lot, and I think my friendship with Will hasn't changed because he hasn't changed. And seeing you pine after him like a schoolgirl made me realize that I want you to be happy. Both of you.”  
Mike took a moment to steady out his breathing. This was the last conversation he expected to have tonight, but even though he felt incredibly uncomfortable, he didn't necessarily want the talk to end.

“I um. I think I'm going to have to plead the fifth on this one,” he breathed.

“Fair enough. Just make sure you do what you think is right dude.”

Mike paused before allowing a small smile. “Thank you.”

“Don't mention it. Like seriously, do not mention this subject to me. I'm trying real hard, but I'm not quite there yet.” Dustin straightened his bow tie, shook his shoulders, and threw back the rest of his fruit punch. “Now I'm gonna go find Judy Miller.”

 

 

~~~

 

 

It was only because of his aunt's wedding years ago that Mike knew the blue and pink flowers lining the walls in the hallway were petunias. He remembered sitting on the afghan in the changing room and wishing that he was anywhere other than in a stuffy little room watching his mom do Aunt Martha's makeup and hair. Apparently the whole “flow” of her hair into her gown was supposed to be inspired by roses because the happy couple had met in a rose garden or something, Mike hadn't been paying that close of attention. He did, however, pay attention when there was a knock at the door and the groom's voice floated in tentatively. He said that the florist had messed up and brought petunias instead, which kind of undermined the whole look Aunt Martha was going for. Mike remembered watching as the most traditional woman he knew got up, flung the door open, and shattered the old stereotype of bride and groom not seeing each other by pulling him in for a giant kiss. She promised that as long as she was marrying him, they could have old straw for flowers. That was the first moment in Mike's life that he realized he wanted love like that.

Mike was pulled out of his stroll down memory lane by the voice of his friend.

“Mike? You here?” came the soft call of Will Byers.

“Yeah! Over here, in the alcove.”

A few seconds later Will was there with a scrunched face. “Are you okay? You disappeared in there.”

“I'm good, it was just getting really loud. Didn't mean to worry you. I was just hanging out, thinking about,” Mike suppressed a smile, “flowers, actually.”

“That thing at that family wedding?”

“Yeah. How'd you know about that? I didn't think I'd ever told anyone.”

Will rolled his eyes as he walked over and reached up to brush the petals. “You tell me everything man. Always have.”

“That's not true.”

“Name one secret you've kept from me.”

Mike felt his gut burn with guilt, but he tried to push it down. “I've kept secrets from you! That surprise party we had for you a few years back.”

Will snorted. “Even if that sort of thing counted, you'd still be oh for one. You told me about it five days early because you wanted to know what kind of cake to get.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I never told you how when El and I started dating,”

“She didn't understand the concept of a kiss and you had to draw her a diagram for her to get it,” Will interrupted. “Yeah, you told me that too. Even showed me the sketch, which wasn't actually half-bad.”

“Not as well done as your sketch of a kiss.” Mike froze. Oh god, no. He had not just said that. It had been weeks since they switched books back, and they'd both been aggressively ignoring the topic ever since. Mike opened his mouth to speak, but when no words came out, he closed it again.

Will eventually looked up from where he was staring at his feet. “I blame this all on Jonathan.”

“How the hell does this loop back to your brother?”

Will ran a hand through his hair. “Right after the Demogorgon, and again after the Mind Flayer, I had really bad nightmares. He told me that I should draw whatever I was afraid of, that way it could stay on the page and not in my head. I've been doing it ever since. I think it's pretty reasonable to be afraid of Hickville Indiana finding out that I'm...” he shrugged, “like I am.”

“Woah. You never told me that. About the nightmares I mean.”

“Yeah, well, some people can actually keep a secret,” Will jabbed Mike's ribs, and the boy returned by shoving into his shoulder.

After a moment, Mike suppressed his smile and tried to ignore every instinct that was screaming at him to stay quiet. “I'm scared too you know.”

“Of what?”

“Of disappointing my family and freaking out my friends. That I'll never get to have the life I always imagined for myself. That I'll become that one guy that everyone says it's such a shame that he couldn't make it to the get together when they all know he wasn't actually invited.”

“You'll never be that guy Mike. People love you, you have to know that.”

He shrugged. “Right now they do.” Mike sighed and looked at the ceiling, trying to hold himself together. This was the second conversation of the night he hadn't been expecting to have.

“It'll be okay. I promise,” Will reached up, and it looked like he was about to pat Mike on the shoulder before his arm stopped mid-air and he let it fall.

Mike breathed in the silence for a moment. “I actually really like pink. That's a secret I've never given up.”

“What?”

“I think it's a really nice color. It's soft but strong, you know? I wish it wasn't just for girls.”

“You never told me that.”

He smiled, “Maybe there are more hidden things about me than you think.”

Mike tried to calm his nerves as he reached up slowly with a shaking hand and plucked a single pink petunia from the wall. He unbuttoned his suit jacket and slid it into the inside breast pocket where no one else could see it. Not for the world's eyes, just for his. He could feel the blood pounding in his ears and he was honestly worried that his knees might give out on him any second. A million conflicting thoughts flitted through his head, most of them not his own.

“ _I can just imagine the little fag's face when he realizes that everyone knows.”_

“ _I want to see you that happy again.”_

“ _Dude, he's queer now. Do you know what that means for him if people find out?”_

“ _If you don't go for it, you'll always wonder.”_

“ _Will has been acting even stranger than you, and you both are worse when you are together.”_

Everything was clattering around in his mind, but Mike had gotten used to pushing his feelings down a long time ago. He swallowed as he took a slow step towards his friend, who looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Just uh,” he breathed. “Remember that maybe I haven't told you quite everything after all.”

Despite everything telling him not to, Mike raised a trembling hand and rested it against Will's cheek. Slower than he had ever moved in his life, he leaned down and paused to look in his friend's eyes. God, he loved how those eyes could never decide if they were brown or green. With his knees literally knocking together, Mike pressed a long, deep kiss to Will's forehead, hand brushing by his jaw in the process.

 

And in that moment Mike realized just how royally fucked he was.

 


	7. The Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STAY TUNED FOR THE END NOTE, VERY IMPORTANT CONTENT

Dustin would be lying if he said that his resolve hardened after homecoming. He had no idea if anything had happened between his two friends, and he didn't really want to know. The idea that they might be together like that made him the kind of uncomfortable that was usually reserved for watching someone else flounder an entire fifteen minute presentation. For a few weeks after the dance Dustin would excuse himself if he was ever left in the company of just Will and Mike. But then one day Lucas slipped away to the bathroom without Dustin noticing, and when he finally realized what had happened, something shifted inside him. The boys weren't the ones making things weird, he was. As more time passed he became less and less squeamish about everything. It wasn't his favorite thing in the world and he doubted it ever would be. But regardless of if anything was actually happening between Will and Mike, it was obvious that they were both happy. And in the end, Dustin just couldn't convince himself that that could be a bad thing.

 

As fall turned into winter, things went downhill in the Mayfield/Hargrove house. Max was used to it; this was what the general cycle had been like for a while. But for the first time, she felt like she had an escape. If things were getting too bad Max would hop out her window and skate to the Byers' house. Sometimes Will radioed Lucas to come over, and the two could finally hang out outside school without it being reported to Max's parents. Other times they didn't bother calling Lucas, and she just got a chance to hang out with Will. She discovered that apart from being an excellent listener, he was an amazing storyteller. If Max was feeling weighed down, she would lie her head in Will's lap and he would play with her hair as he wove a tail about wizardry or royalty or stars. With anyone else she would have felt guilty, felt uncomfortable about such intimacy with someone that wasn't her boyfriend. But with Will it wasn't weird, it was like having the brother she had always wanted. A real brother, not like Billy. When Mrs. Byers gave her a spare house key to let herself in in case they were gone, Max had to fight not to cry. She failed.

 

With midterms approaching, Eleven's Wednesday afternoon study sessions in the Wheeler basement became more intense. There was less time for joking around and more focus on the actual material, but she sensed another shift as well. Despite the lack of silliness, Mike seemed happier. She asked once if he had done something different, but he just said he'd been having a really good month. Eleven just shrugged; she was glad that someone was. One particularly stressful week El broke in the face of an impossible equation and told Mike all about how dumb and insignificant her grades made her feel. It reminded her of when she was little and she wasn't able to do something Papa wanted. The next Wednesday, Will was waiting for her in the basement as well. El would work with one of the boys as the other looked over her work in a different class and decided what needed to be reviewed. It was an efficient system, and it allowed for more time to goof off. Eleven had no idea how she'd gotten this lucky.

 

It would be an understatement to say that the events of the homecoming dance came as a surprise to Will. In all his years of figuring out who he was and then fighting to deal with it, he had never so much as considered that maybe he wasn't alone. At first he and Mike just blustered around the topic, never really coming right out and saying anything. Then almost a month after the dance, Will arrived at the Wheeler house to find Mike crying in his room. Apparently he'd been on a walk when he saw some guys shoving a boy around and screaming slurs at him. Mike described how when they were screaming “faggot” at their escaping victim, it felt like punches to the gut. That was a bad day. But it finally gave the boys an opening to lay everything out there, to talk about all the secrets they'd kept hidden in the back of their minds for years. To an outsider it might not seem like much, but finally saying everything out loud meant the world to Will. For the first time in his life he felt like maybe he wasn't a freak after all.

 

Lucas wasn't sure why, but as the fall of freshmen year went on, things seemed to get lighter. Everyone in the party was just in a better mood in general. Maybe it was finally being out of the hell hole that was Hawkins Middle, or maybe it was teenage hormones working themselves out, he didn't much care. He got to see Max more often, she had to deal with her family less, and everyone meshed better with each other. He followed up with Mike to see if he'd ever come clean to Eleven about his feelings, but he said no. Lucas was kind of disappointed, but Mike stopped getting that head-over-heels look in his eyes, so maybe his feelings had never come back after all. Lucas had never been one to pry into other people's business uninvited, and since all his friends seemed so blissed out, for the first time in over two years he didn't feel the need to investigate anything. He never realized how good getting a chance to step back and breathe felt.

 

Mike had never experienced terror and excitement in such tandem before. That day in the park watching that stranger get beat up really fucked with his head, and more than once he considered calling the whole thing quits and telling Will that it had all been a confusing misunderstanding. But then Will would smile at him in that funny, gleeful way of his and all that doubt would melt away for a moment. In public Mike was extra careful not to let his feelings show, but behind closed doors he let it all wash over him. It was the scariest thing he had ever done, and that was saying something. He hadn't even worked up the courage to kiss Will on the lips yet, but he was getting there. It wasn't like he'd ever gone very far with El, but he got the sense that the way he felt holding Will's hand was more intimate than hooking up was for a lot of his peers. It took a lot of work, but he was trying. And with Will by his side, it was getting less and less scary every day.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all I want to thank you guys for the incredible support you've given me. Every last one of your comments means the world to me, and I appreciate it more than you can know. Some of the things you've said have made me want to go more in-depth with some of the facets of this story. SO, I'm happy to announce that a sequel is in the works! Stay tuned. Keep in mind that your comments and reactions genuinely shape the arc of the story.
> 
> ALSO: as I've been brainstorming the sequel, I've realized that the original format no longer works, as some characters need more chapters and exposition than others. What would you guys think if a similar shifting perspective, but without it being so clean and balanced? What did you think of the format of this? And lastly, any ideas for the sequel's title?

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely LIVE for comments. Good, bad, criticisms, critiques, anything, hit me up!


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